PS3 Fanboy

This is a post we've been waiting to write for a long time. Not only has Universal finally revealed their Blu-Ray plans for the coming months, but our favorite Universal property, Heroes, will be available on Blu-Ray this August. There's no word on a price or specific release date, but it's nice to know that both seasons 1 and 2 will be available later this year. Finally.

Other Universal releases due out from July onwards include The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II and the Mummy trilogy. For more information check out Hi-Def Digest's report on Universal's announcement. Please feel free to squeal like little girls about the Heroes announcement in the comments after the beep.

Beep.

We know - for the last few days we've been more like "Blu-Ray Fanboy" than "PS3 Fanboy". You can't really blame us, though. Today is a big day for the High-Def DVD industry and one of the PS3's main selling points is Blu-Ray playback. So, with that said, we'll continue to cover the various announcements and industrial tectonic plate-shifting that occurs after an announcement like this morning's.

Craig Kornblau, President of Universal, has made a public statement in which he says "The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray." There are currently no specific titles or dates mentioned, but a more detailed announcement is expected to come before too long. Any specific titles you'd be happy to see announced off the bat?

Can't be long now before Paramount does the same. We'll let you know as soon as it happens.

HD DVD is officially against the ropes and is getting battered by wicked left and right hooks to the noggin by Blu-ray. But unlike a punch drunk boxer giving it one last shot at the win, it appears that the HD DVD camp is slowly coming to grips with its grim future.

The camp responded to earlier reports that Netflix would only carry Blu-ray titles as well as Best Buy recommending Blu-ray as the HD standard. "We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward," the statement read. "While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."

Sure, they're not exactly admitting defeat yet, but it's almost sad to see the HD DVD camp attempting to find a silver lining in the fact that Best Buy is still carrying its discs despite promoting its competitor as the superior product. With overwhelming industry support leaning in Blu-ray's favor, it appears the only thing Sony needs to declare full victory is the support of Universal and Paramount. However, we believe it's only a matter of time before they're "seeing Blu."

Universal president Craig Kornblau shot down on our respect meter by stating he desires the format war to continue despite the negative effects it has on consumer adoption in a recent interview. He thinks that HD DVD is in such a fragile position that if Universal ceased support, HD DVD would cease to exist (but isn't that ultimately the idea for one format to fade away?). In fact, when asked about dealings behind the curtain to keep HD DVD support, Kornblau bluntly replied, "I'm not going to tell you that we don't cut financial deals with people every day."

Kornblau says that once players reach $200, consumers will truly adopt one format or the other and then he will decide which format Universal will support. With Blu-ray players still expensive and HD DVD players getting another price slash later this year, he'll have to make his decision in less than a year. We hope he makes the right choice by then, because we've got one word to describe Kornblau's actions ... and it rhymes with bass-fat.

[Via Blu-ray.com]

With the clear advantage going to Blu-ray as the high-definition movie format of choice by the technology-savvy or trend-setting consumer, it's only natural something like this would come along. The only exclusive movie studio for HD DVD, Universal, is getting pressured into supporting Blu-ray. A lot of persuading is going on, apparently, for them to release their films on Blu-ray.

There are reports that, in Europe, standalone HD DVD players outsell standalone Blu-ray players by 70%. Of course they do. The PS3 is a cheaper alternative with more capabilities, so that's a pretty unfair report. To further offset that report, actual movie sales dip the 70% advantage towards those lovely Blu babies. Even so, HD films are still a niche market and moving to support their "competition" isn't high on Universal's list of priorities. Their standard DVDs still sell just fine and since the PS3 can upscale those, we're not too hurt if Universal decides to stick to their guns and support HD DVD to the bitter end. Although we really wanted some Blu-ray Heroes.

[Thanks, Joe!]

[Update: The President of Universal Studios, Craig Kornblau, has dismissed the following rumor as "totally false". Read on for fun, though!]

Now here is a piece of news worth getting excited about. Wait, wait ... it's just a rumor, so let's not all get up in arms yet. The news is this: apparently, at a press conference, Pioneer spoke to some individuals about Universal's exclusive ties to HD DVD and how they might just be breaking. Universal, they said, is going to go neutral and distribute on both formats. That would mean we get to see our lovely Children of Men on Blu-ray after all.

This statement hasn't been confirmed by Universal themselves, but if they've not yet issued a statement that points in the exact oppposite direction, it's fairly clear that they're just stalling with silence until the exclusive ties actually do break and they come out of the closet, so to speak. If the rumors of compensation for staying an HD DVD exclusive company were true, this means they see more benefit in passing on that "free money" and selling their movies on Blu-ray. That's a kick in the pants if you're the one paying off Universal. But that's just a rumor, too. We'll keep you posted on this event as it may dictate the end of this meaningless war.